Thanks for the Memories
by HazelEyesDontTellLies
Summary: NOT A SONGFIC! Everything in Angel still happened, BUT instead of Angel being kidnapped, Max gets amnesia from an accident in the heat of battle. It's up to the Flock, with Fang's help, to help her remember, but will Fang fall in love with her again?
1. Chapter 1

**FULL SUMARY: Everything in the book Angel still happened, BUT instead of Angel being kidnapped Max has amnesia from an accident in the heat of the battle! It's up to the Flock, with the help of Fang, of course, to help her remember herself and her mission. To save the world.**

**Okay, the prologue is **_**mainly **_**from Angel: Chapter 76 – JUST TO CLEAR THAT UP! & OF COURSE I DON'T OWN MAXIMUM RIDE!**

**Now, without further delay…**

**Thanks for the Memories:**

"You could have ruled your own country!" Mark, the cowardly shooter, yelled into my ear. Lesson number one: megalomaniacs never give up when they should.

I tried to rise up on my hands and knees, but the guy was on my back and weighed a ton.

"Whoa!" I coughed, struggling to breathe. "What'd you get enhanced with – ham?"

"You could have been a princess of the New World! But now you're going to die like a lowly, ordinary human." He practically spat the last word, though he appeared to be human himself – a heavily Botoxed, steroid cocktail of a human, but a human nonetheless. The guy needed an intense course on overcoming self-hatred, stat.

"The thing about being a human," I managed to say, still struggling to get out from underneath him, "is that you have to…kiss…a lot of…_frogs!_"

He was strong, and I clawed at his fingers with shockingly little effect. He clamped down harder on my windpipe, and I started to get a little worried. I heard blood rushing in my ears, heard my heartbeat slowing. Not good.

This wasn't how it was supposed to end.

"You are a black cloud over the One Light," I heard the man say, as if from a distance. "You won't destroy everything I've worked for and planned for all these years!"

Suddenly my head got yanked to one side, and the vise grip around my neck slackened a bit. I pried off his fingers with difficulty as I heard his voice, full of hatred an rage, shrieking, then a rush of air whooshed into my lungs so fast it was almost painful. I gasped like a fish, sucking in air with a wheeze, and then I hear my voice snarl, "That's not how it's going to end, dirtbag!"

I got up on all fours, wobbly, my head starting to clear.

But it hadn't been my voice after all. It had been Maya's. She had broken off a piece of a metal barricade and beaned ol' Mark with it as hard as she could.

Of course, Mark, pumped up with who knows what, survived the blow. With an angry bellow, he got to his feet as I stumbled out of the way. Maya hauled back and smashed the pole into Mark again. There was an awful _thwock._

"You know," I chocked out, "the bigger they are…" I lined myself up with Maya and grabbed the other end of the pole.

"The harder they fall!" Maya said, and the two of us rushed Mark using our combined strength to clobber him one more time. He staggered backward, looking surprised, and just as he started to get angry, he fell back off the stage, flailing through the air.

He landed ten feet below with a sickening crunch – I'm guessing his enhancements didn't allow him to bounce up like a ball. We call that a design flaw.

Maya and I looked at each other as I began to wrap my mind around the depressing realization that she had probably just saved my life.

"Max!" Dylan rushed over, and I blinked and looked around. The guards were all taken care of, what was left of the flock was still standing, and the rally had mostly dispersed.

It looked like another job well done. Now I just had to find Angel and Gazzy.

But as I took one last look at Mark's body on the ground, I saw- were those? – wires sticking out below him. He wasn't a bot, we knew that much, so were they connected to –

And that was when the City of Lights exploded with a thunderous _boom!_

**(Just a reminder, that was the part from the actual book – but now it's **_**my**_** turn to tell the story)**

I had time to see Maya and Dylan's faces go from mildly scared and panicked to majorly scared and panicked as they watched something crash and crumble from behind me. They whipped out their wings and flew off, probably expecting me to do the same. But I didn't have time to process what was happening, everything seemed unreal and dream-like.

I spun around to see what Dylan and Maya had seen. It was a giant, gray dust cloud that was sucking up everything in its path as the buildings and rocks crushed around each other. And it was surrounding me.

I couldn't see and couldn't fly. I had time to think,_ Oh, crap!_ The last thing I remembered was a rock –At least, I think it was a rock - flying out from the dust and smacking into the back of my skull with a blood curdling _thwack! _And that was it.

_~Later...~_

"Where are they?" Nudge screamed at no one in particular. She searched each face of the remaining flock and Fang's gang for answers, but came up with none. _Oh, God._

Everyone was covered from head to toe in soot from the explosion, the air smelled putrid but Dylan had assured everyone that there was no poisonous gas.

"I don't know. But we'll find them." Maya told her calmly, trying to keep her cool. Somebody had to be the leader, looks like she'd have to be it. But even Maya couldn't hide how her voice was shaking with worry.

Paris was already being cleaned up by volunteers, all the lives had been spared, and the Flock and Fang's gang had succeeded in saving the day, for now, at least.

But members of the group were still missing. Fang, Gazzy, and Angel hadn't showed up yet. And Max. She was still missing, too.

"Okay, we need to send out a search party!" Maya said, getting her bearings. "Ratchet, Kate, and Star search the grounds, report back what you've found when you're finished. The rest of us will do a search from the sky. Got it?"

Curt nods came from almost everyone.

"Break!" Maya announced, and people started to disperse. But not before Dylan put in his two cents.

"Whoa! Who put you in charge?" He demanded angrily, he'd been bitter ever sense he'd seen Max get sucked into the mucky cloud and never come out, "Just because Max is missing doesn't mean you can just take her place!

Maya's rolled her eyes impatiently, "Listen, pretty boy. Just because I'm a clone of your girlfriends doesn't mean I can't kick your ass, and don't you forget it!"

"Oh, yeah, _clone_?" Dylan challenged, stepping closer to Maya, towering over her. He and Max had actually tentatively been getting along lately, so it felt weird to be arguing with her, even if this wasn't really Max.

"Oh, like you're not a clone yourself?" said Maya. Not backing down, she took a step closer to Dylan.

Dylan's eyes narrowed and he through the first punch, but Maya didn't even stumble. The two began battling it out, and the Flock and Fang's gang started fighting as well.

Nudge was battling it out with Star and Kate, and was losing badly. They had speed and strength on their side. But Nudge did manage to yank at Kate's Model Perfect hair, which Nudge had been incredibly jealous of the last few days.

Iggy; however, was doing great against Ratchet. Because of Iggy's blindness, and because he was a mutant freak with advanced hearing, Iggy's hearing was just about as good as Ratchet's. Iggy could hear Ratchet's fist swoosh through the air and deflect them just before they'd have smashed into his soot-covered, gangly body.

Maya had always fought just like Max; it was how she'd been designed. And Dylan had learned everything from Max, even without her knowing it. So the two were a completely even fight, they were neck and neck.

"Guys!" Three voices from outside of the fights yelled, they voices were so hoarse from the soot that they hardly sounded like themselves, "Stop it! Cut it out!"

"GUYS, CUT IT OUT!" Fang's voice boomed. Upon recognition, everybody froze in their battle positions and gaped at him, who was usually quiet and impassive.

"Fang! Angel! Gazzy!" Nudge shrieked happily tearing away from Star and Kate. She gave them each tight hugs. "Where were you guys?"

"We got trapped under some rocks," Gazzy shrugged, nonchalantly. "I'm hungry." He told Maya, mistaking her for Max. The only thing that could be used to tell them apart was the streak of magenta in Maya's hair, but you couldn't even see it under all the dust and dirt.

Angel beamed and smiled at everyone, she stood on her tip toes searching the crowd for the one face she wanted to see. Max.

"Everybody got out?" Fang asked Maya. Of course, only he could tell it was Maya.

"Yeah. We should probably take off soon." Maya told him; glad that she hadn't been mistaken for Max like she had by the kid.

"What? You can't go!" Nudge told them, panicked. "What about Max?"

"What do you mean?" Fang asked, craning his neck to expecting to see the Max standing in the back of the group by herself, like she usually was nowadays. "Maya? Where's Max?"

Maya didn't say anything. She knew how much Fang loved Max. How, exactly, do you tell someone that the person who was once your best friend in the whole world was missing, possibly dead?

"We don't know." Dylan told him quietly. "She hasn't turned up anywhere."

With a jolt, Fang felt like he'd been hit with a brick wall. He'd always told himself that if Max were dead, he would know. He'd be able to feel it. Right now, he didn't feel anything. "Split up." Fang numbly heard himself say.

Everyone slowly dispersed, except for Maya.

"Fang-" Maya started, but Fang was already flying away searching the grounds for Max.

Fang clenched his jaw, his dark eyes scanning the ground for her. But all he could see was rock and dust and an occasional member of the Flock or his gang searching just like he was. He knew that they were loudly calling out Max's name, but he could not hear them.

Fang had been by her side practically since birth; almost all of his memories had Max in them. Clips from the past fifteen years were flashing through his brain so fast he could hardly recognize them.

Him and Max and Iggy and Nudge trying to escape the school, when he'd been about six. Max had organized the entire operation, but they'd been caught by a group of Erasers before they reached the end of the forest that surrounded the school.

When Jeb had first taught the flock how to fight at the E-shaped house. Gazzy and Angel had been too young to fight, but Iggy and Nudge had been combat partners, and so had him and Max. She'd pinned Fang on her first try.

And, of course, how could he ever forget the 'legendary-extroardiary-eating-sugar-until-we-puke-pillow-fights-movies-with-popcorn-and-_extra_-butter-all-night-not-falling-asleep-until-we're-dead' sleep over? He and Max had fallen asleep before it was two o'clock.

Fang hadn't even noticed he was losing altitude until he was five feet above the ground. He snapped in his wings and began searching manually.

He chose a rock at random and began shoving with all his might, checking for a Max's crumpled body. Where was she? She couldn't have –have _not_ made it. She was the powerful, incredible, indestructible Maximum Ride.

Fang moved unto the next rock, and the next one, and so on. He'd searched for hours and would keep on searching until he found her or until his heart gave out.

It looked like it would be the latter; Fang leaned up against a pile of rocks and boulders panting heavily. He could feel his heart pounding wildly from exhaustion.

"Oh, God." He managed to pant through his total exhaustion. He slammed the back of his head against the pile of rocks, "Max, where are you?"

"Ouch." He heard a voice whisper. He'd barely heard it at all over his heavy breathing, plus the voice had been incredibly faint.

But still, with his rapture hearing, he'd heard it and hope raised in his chest.

"Max?" Fang asked, his eyes scanned the perimeter but no one was there and if they were they didn't say anything. "Hello?" He asked again.

He laughed with no humor; he must be going crazy if he's hearing things. He whipped out his wings again and was about to take off when he heard the voice speak, "Hello?"

It was coming from the pile of rocks! He almost laughed at his own stupidity, but he didn't have time. He gripped the smaller rocks and shoved them aside. He tossed them aside as quick as he could without causing a mini-avalanche or pebbles.

Using whatever strength Fang had left, he rolled aside a small boulder and saw Max's limp, crumpled body covered in dirt and blood.

"Max!" Fang yelled, if only to assure himself that he wasn't imagining her. She was here, right in front of him. "Oh, God. Max!"

She looked terrible; her face was twisted into a look of pain and confusion. Her back was facing him, and she rested her bruised, bloodied head on her outstretched arm. Fang grabbed her shoulder and rolled her so was laying on her back, a painful moan escaped her lips.

"It hurts so bad," She whispered faintly, her voice was hoarse from disuse.

"You're okay, Max." Fang assured her and himself, "You're gonna be okay."

"And it's so cold." Max continued as if she had not heard him.

Fang ignored her, "GUYS!" Fang yelled to the anyone who could hear him, "GUYS, I FOUND HER!"

Max's eyes rested on Fang, as if she had just noticed he was here, "Wait, who're you?"

**OKAY! I THINK THIS COULD BE PROMISING! BUT I DO UNDERSTAND HOW SOME PEOPLE NOT LIKE IT! BUT, UH….TELL YOUR FRIENDS!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks for the Memories:**

Fang's heart thudded to a stop, leaving a faint echo ringing in his ears. The whole world seemed to freeze right then and there, as Max lay in front of him with confused and hooded eyes that struggled to stay open.

Fang focused on her, his mind slowly processing. She looked so fragile

In the back of his mind Fang knew he ought to carry Max back to the others, back to the hotel to bandage her up, but he just couldn't. Not yet.

Was she serious? Was she joking? Or had he heard her right? Did she truly not know who he was? Her words, the _Wait, who're you?_ had cut through him like a knife coated in poison.

Numbly, Fang, who knew he should not do it, reached out to sweep Max's hair aside from her face, but before he could she winced. Hurt, Fang withdrew his hands back to his side. She was completely awake now, no longer dazed. She glared at him through narrowed eyes, eyes that held an angry, daring challenged. _She thinks I'm going to hurt her,_ he realized with a jolt. _She thinks I did this to her._

"Look at me." He said to her, who was now looking at her surroundings suspiciously. The sight of collapsed buildings, now reduced to miniature boulders and matted in soot must not have been reassuring, Fang guessed, seeing her face flash with fear. The sun was beginning to set, covering Paris in an orange glow and outlining the Eifel tower and other buildings in the distance. "Max, do you know who I am?"  
>She ignored his question. "Where am I?" She demanded angrily, and Fang's stomach dropped.<p>

"You're in Paris. " He answered. "Do you know who _you_ are?"

Her brow furrowed as she thought. She felt as though she was reaching inside herself, searching for a name, but it slipped away before she could say it, like she were trying to hold water. She turned to Fang, panicked, no longer looking at him in fear but for help. "No," She said desperately, "Do you know who I am?"

Fang's guess was confirmed. She had amnesia, of all things, of all times. "Yes," His energy had drained, his shoulders slumped, and his voice was very soft, "Your name is Maximum Ride."

"Please help me." Her voice choked as she, grimacing, willed herself not to cry. The panic of not knowing had enveloped her in fear that she could not fight back. Her mind was blank; it was like she had turned a corner on a familiar street and suddenly found herself flung halfway across the world. Not knowing anyone, not a single soul, or where she was, or how to get home.

Fang nodded, "Can you fly?"

What? What did he say? Did he ask her if she could she _fly?_ Was he crazy? "What?" She asked, dumbstruck.

"Never mind," Slipping his arms around her upper back and the back of her knees, he lifted her, cradling her in his strong arms. To his surprise, she settled herself in, nuzzling her head into his chest as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

And Max couldn't bring herself to care that she was in the arms of a stranger, completely entrusting someone that she had just met. Maybe it was because she was exhausted, so tired she could hardly keep her eyes open, or maybe it was the fact that she was glad to have someone help her in a world that made her seem completely helpless.

** X**

Max had been asleep for hours, and Fang was starting to worry. What if she had a concussion, too, not just amnesia? Wasn't it bad for people with concussions to go to sleep?

Maya couldn't help but get a little annoyed at Fang's obvious concern. So what if the girl was dying, an _ex-_boyfriend shouldn't get so worked up over it. Then, remembering how Max had helped take down that jerk-face, Mark, she instantly felt guilty.

When they had all returned to the hotel, Fang had set to work on fixing her up. He'd carried a handful of towels over to her and washed away as much of the blood and dirt that covered her as he could. Then he'd started on her injuries: there had been a big and bloody gash on the back of her head, which Fang had wrapped with gauze; it looked like her ankle had been nearly torn from its socket and Fang thanked God that she wasn't awake when he rammed it back in. The rest of her injuries had been minor, just some cuts and bruises.

Then Fang had told them the bad news. That she didn't remember any of them, which had been met with silence until Nudge had clamped her hand over her mouth and left the room in tears. Iggy stared at the floor, with an expression Fang had never seen before; it was not joking, not sad, not happy, or plotting it was simply…nothing. The Gasman and Angel had shared similar reactions; their eyes flickered back and forth between him and Max. Dylan looked horrified.

"So what now?" Maya then asked Fang, bringing him out of his trance.

He looked up at her, "What?"

"Well, they've got Max back, so we should probably take off now, don't you think?"

Nudge who had been crying silently for hours finally spoke, "But you can't leave!"

"Why not?"

"B-Because – Well because Max doesn't remember who she is!"

Maya rolled her eyes, "Look, I'm sorry and all, but that's not our problem." She moved to pick up her backpack. "Let's go, guys."

The gang looked at Fang for confirmation, but he said nothing. He knew it was wrong, but he truly did not want to leave Max. "Let's just slow down and figure everything out first before we leave okay, Maya?"

She through her backpack down to the ground, feeling oddly betrayed. Fang had _left_ the flock, and now here he was, _agreeing_ with them, _wanting_ to stay with his precious little Max. Maya stared at him in astonishment.

Gazzy spoke next. "Fang, you can't leave."

"Why can't he?" Starr demanded.

"Because," Now Angel was speaking, "He's the only one who can help Max remember who she is."

"Wait, what?" Holden asked, the same time Ratchet did. Starr and Kate glanced at each other uneasily, then at Maya who was glaring at Fang.

Fang looked as confused as the others, until Angel went on looking at him in earnest. "He can't leave yet because he _knows_ Max; knows everything about her. And he should; he's known her since she was born. He needs to stay and spend time with her until she remembers who she is. Fang will help her remember who she is, because they're best friends."

"No way!" Maya said sternly…

…Just as Fang had said, "Okay."

Maya looked at him with rage. "_What?_ Are you crazy? We're on the _run!_ We have a _mission!_ We can't just throw that all away for her! You left them, remember?"

"Maya's right." Iggy said, surprising everyone. He looked up in Fang's general area, since he could not see. "I don't think it's a good idea for you to be hanging around Max anymore."

For whatever reason, Fang was suddenly furious, an icy warning washed over his tone. "What?"

Iggy went on unaffected. "You really hurt her when you left. You broke her heart, and not just because you two were together. But because you were her _best friend_ and you left without any warning. Max always needed you more than she needed the rest of us; she always let her guard down with you, because with you she felt safe. But when you left it was like you had put a knife through her back. But she's learned how to get along _without _you, and she doesn't need you _anymore, _Fang. And it sounds like what Angel is suggesting is that you cozy up to her, and become her best friend all over again like nothing ever happened. And once she remembers herself, then what? Oh yeah. _You'll leave._ You'll leave all over again and it'll hurt her just as badly as it did the first time. And Max may be tough, but she's not tough enough to go through that twice." Iggy took a breath. "You left the Flock, left her, and you can't take it back."

Fang knew he sounded like a child, but he couldn't stop himself from saying it: "You're wrong. She needs me." Fang knew that if Max were awake, and if she remembered, she would be saying that she didn't need _anyone._

Iggy threw his arms up in annoyance. "Fine. Do what you want."

"So…we're staying, then?" Holden asked, and Fang nodded. "Sweet."

"Well," Ratchet said in a throaty voice. "Anyone wanna go do some sight-seeing?"

"Ooh!" Kate gasped. "I want to go!"

Ratchet looked appreciative as he slid an arm around Kate's shoulders. "Great. We can go to Eifel tower, under the stars; just you and me-"

"And me." Starr interrupted. "I want to come."

Ratchet frowned, suddenly feeling like a deflated party balloon. "But…" He started to protest.

"Of course you can come!" Kate said, then turning to Holden, Maya, and Fang. "You should come too, guys."

Holden nodded, but before Fang could answer Maya interrupted. "Fang and I can't come. We need to talk."

Fang tried not to cringe as Maya grabbed his wrist and proceeded to drag him to the gang's hotel room. Sliding the key card through the lock, Maya shoved Fang into the room angrily. He bit back the urge to push her back.

Maya turned to him with an expression so similar to Max's. Narrowed brown eyes, pursed lips, jaw set, and hand on hips. But Fang could always tell the difference between them: while Max's eyes would have held an icy hardness, Fang could make out hurt in Maya's.

She stared at him, shaking her head slightly as she tried to get her thoughts in order. Seconds ticked by and finally she through her hands up in frustration. "_What were you thinking?_ We have a mission, remember? You can't take commercial breaks every time some girl gives you big cow eyes, you jerk!" She shoved him again, her cheeks flaming slightly as she realized that she had exact same brown eyes.

Fangs eyes narrowed. _She's not just some girl_, Fang tried not to say, _She's Max_. "Look, I'm sorry, alright? But you didn't find her: you didn't see what she looked like, how scared she was, when she realized she didn't know her own name. If we leave, if I leave, she won't know anyone. She'll-"

"She doesn't know you, either!" Maya protested. "You're just as good as any stranger on the street!"

"But I know _her."_ Fang's voice was unusually stern. "It doesn't matter if she doesn't know me; I know everything about her. I can help her."

Maya's voice softened. "But you don't have to. We can just leave in the middle of the night, we can all disappear."

Fang's eyes narrowed. "Maya, I can't leave her."

Maya was instantly furious again. "Why? Why not?"

"What?"

"_Why can't you leave her?"_ Maya's voice rose to a shout, surprising them both, but Maya's eyes never left his. They blazed angrily, painfully, expectantly, knowingly.

She wanted him to say it. She knew perfectly well why Fang couldn't leave her, and she wanted him to admit it. Her eyes were desperate for him to admit to himself that this wasn't about Max at all, but about him _and _Max. About the two of them. Together.

His lips opened, trying to form the words. _Because I love her._ But he couldn't do it. His pride was too great for that.

Maya scoffed, but when her she spoke it was surprisingly soft. "I should have known. You're such a liar, Fang. You can pretend that this is about wanting to help her. But I know it's not. You can lie to the Flock, lie to the Gang, and you can lie to yourself. But you can't lie to me; I see right through you."

And when she walked out the door, when it closed with a soft_ click_, he did not go after her. Although he knew he should, being on good terms with a teammate was more important than with someone who had become a part of his past. But instead he retreated back into the other hotel room to wait next to Max's sleeping body for her to wake up. Signing, he knew Iggy and Maya had been right, he knew, he shouldn't be spending time with her. It wasn't good for him or Max.

The standing in the hotel room was uncomfortable enough, surely it was awkward enough. With the boy Fang hated more than anyone he'd ever met standing guard next to his ex-girlfriends bed while she rested. With the most of the Flock comforting Nudge, who was still crying. With him standing uncertainly in a corner.

If Dylan weren't in the room, it was easy to imagine that the Flock was still together and that he had never left. Just the five of them: Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel on the run, hiding out on a hotel room, and on a mission to save the world. It was simple to picture Max waking up, right now, and smiling at him with that unspoken connection they'd had. It was simpler to imagine her waking up, wrapping herself in his arms, and kissing him right full on the mouth.

Fang blinked, ordering himself to step having these thoughts. It wasn't right. He wasn't allowed to have them anymore. He had lost that right.

Fang sighed; making his way over to the bed wear Dylan was watching her. Despite himself, he was annoyed by this, and made a point of walking over to the beds opposite side and settling himself in a chair.

Her breathing was steady, at least, which reassured Fang some. Her hair was spilled out around her face, onto her pillow, and with her eyes clamped shut and soft pink lips she looked just like Sleeping Beauty. A bruised and bloodied Sleeping Beauty.

Again, he sighed. He knew why Nudge was so upset; if Max didn't remember her own name, didn't remember herself, it was like she was didn't exist.

It was like she was dead.

**I finally updated chapter two after months and months of procrastinating. FYI, I probably won't update often because I am working on another story that takes up a lot of my time, but now and then I'll update with Thanks for the Memories because I really like this story idea, okay? Great. Review please!**


	3. Chapter 3

Max woke groggy and disoriented with the vague impression that it wasn't the first time in her life she'd she'd felt that way. An irritating, low ringing echoed in the space between her ears. She felt as though she was going to be sick. With what felt like the strength she could have otherwise used to lift an entire building, she opened her eyes.

And blinked in surprise. She was surrounded by sleeping people. All of them circled her, either sitting in a chair or leaning against the bed she was rested on. A bed? When had she gotten into a bed? She didn't know, and didn't want to know either. She lifted herself up to a sitting position, refusing to wince although every movement stung.

She only recognized one of her captors – the one in black, with the shaggy hair. He'd been there – in the graveyard of crumbled buildings - the crazy one who'd asked her if she could fly. She remembered staring at his dirtied face, his brow furrowing the slightest bit, and looking almost concerned.

But Max knew better. That was probably what he wanted her to think – he was probably manipulating her. Trying to win her trust only to stab her in the back later.

Max lifted her fingers to her forehead, feeling the rough gauze against her stringy and stiff hair. She felt sore all over, although her head hurt the most – like it had been used as a baseball. Did they do this to her? Probably. But why would they harm her, beat on her until she was an inch within death, if they were going to keep her? Why did they do this if they were only going to bring her home and patch her up? Why did they kidnap her in the first place? She wasn't of any value, and if she was she didn't know it. It didn't make any sense. This didn't seem like any normal run of the mill kidnapping – so what was it?

They didn't look very strong, Max noted, unimpressed. They were just a bunch of kids. There was a guy Max's age who looked like he belonged on TV to her right, a scrawny one a foot taller than Max at the foot of her bed with his head bent down in sleep, the one in black who'd taken her here, and then three kids all kneeling on the floor. If they were meant to be guarding her so she couldn't escape – they were doing an awful job.

The sun was gone; another day's beauty had died, and though Max suspected it was around midnight in the morning, she could see shining lights beaming through the thick curtains at the windowsill. The boy had said she was in Paris, she remembered – the city of lights, of romance.

They had _got_ to be kidding her. _This_ was their big, bad HQ? Max snorted.

Every muscle screamed in protest as Max delicately crawled out of her bed, careful not to wake her kidnappers as she tip toed toward the door, ready to make an easy escape.

She creaked over to the door, the floor whining under her step much to her annoyance. She held in her frustrated sigh. She slowly eased her way across the room, careful to not wake the others, but it was hard. She desperately wanted to bolt across the room – it would be so much faster, simpler, and more efficient. But any quick movement felt like she was being shot with acid. By the time she reached the door all of her patience was gone, grasping the door handle she turned it briskly and whipped it open.

She knew that it didn't matter, didn't count because they were all still asleep – but Max flashed a triumphant look at all of them anyway. Her eyes lingered on the boy with midnight hair, and she paused.

More confusing than the odd urge to kick him until he begged for mercy was the dulled ache in her heart that had sprouted at the sight of him. Just then, a voice whispered in her head. It was odd, but if must have been her conscious: _**He took care of you. He helped you. He told you your name – Maximum Ride. **_

Her jaw was set. _He's kidnapped me! You call that help?_

To her surprise, her conscious answered:_**You were hurt, he fixed you. You call that kidnapping?**_

Well…it did have a point, Max realized. But that didn't mean anything. Wasn't it safer to trust your first instinct?

_**Where will you go, Maximum?**_

That brought her up short: where could she go? She hadn't really thought about it. She didn't know anyone, didn't have any money, and had nowhere to go to. She didn't know where her home was, or if she had one at all.

Max swore. Sinking against the rooms other bed, Max sighed and stared out the window for hours until the sun finally came up.

X

Somewhere throughout the night Fang had fallen asleep. He was losing his touch – he used to be able to go the whole night without a wink of sleep while he stood watch, making sure the others slept on peacefully and now he could hardly maintain an hour without drowsing off.

"It's about time someone else was up," A voice said. His head snapped up, his eyes fleeting to the far wall where Max was slouching. She was giving him that look he'd always get when they were fighting – arms crossed like she was cold, her eyes were narrowed and closed off so he couldn't see the hurt in them, and her mouth was frowning.

He blinked, "Max?"

She had hate in her eyes, distrust. This was the look she used to give her enemies, and it was so familiar yet alarming to see her giving him that same look that he half expected to see an Eraser or Jeb standing behind him, that her hate was misdirected. She snarled, "Who are you? And what do you want with me?"

"What?" He started, but Max wasn't finished.

"And where the hell am I? What's going on and why did you kidnap me?!" She glanced at the flock, sleeping away in the corner of the room. "Who are they?"

Judging by the sun, it was half past dawn. The Flock could use a few more hours of sleep…but it was going to be difficult to keep an angry, screaming Max from waking them up. "Max, shh. Calm down – I'll explain everything but you need to trust me."

"I don't want to calm down!" She hissed. "Don't tell me to calm down! I want to know what's going on."

"Max," He hissed. The poison in his voice surprised both of them. "It's a long story. And you probably won't believe me."

Suddenly Max snapped to attention, like a hunting dog on point. Her eyes focused in on something past Fang. A high voice gasped before he could turn around. "Max!" The voice shouted.

And suddenly a young girl's arms were around Max before she could even put up a fight, hugging her fiercely. Max looked down at the girl as if she were some undiscovered, unheard of creature. Max coughed the girl's wild brown hair out of her face, and firmly pushed her away.

Nudge took no offense. "Max! Oh, my gosh! Max, you're alright! We were all so worried! We thought you were dead! And then Fang found you and – Oh! Fang said you have amnesia, that you don't remember us, but that's not true, is it? Tell me it isn't." The girl with curly hair stared up at Max with big hopeful eyes; her hands were brought in front of her chest, her fingers entwined, like she was praying.

Max didn't know what to do. The girl looked so happy, so hopeful. It would be like kicking a puppy to tell her the truth. She looked at Fang helplessly, but there was nothing reassuring in the way he was looking at the two of them. She swallowed, looking at the girl and then back at the boy. "You have a lot of explaining to do."

He swallowed. So much for letting the flock sleep in. "Nudge, go wake the others."

**X**

"Let me get this straight…"Max said, drawing out the words in disbelief. "You're telling me that I'm a bird kid. A bird hybrid – a genetic mutation. And that I have wings. That I can fly."

"Yes!" Dylan grinned, foolishly believing that Max was taking the news rather well.

The corner of Max's mouth tugged upward and Fang felt like smacking his head into a wall: she was trying not to laugh. "And you guys," Max pointed at them all, "You guys are genetic mutations, too?"

They all nodded. "And we all have," Max paused, snorting slightly. "Super powers?"

Fang held in his annoyance. "They're more like…skills. Not powers, per say."

"Oh, right. My bad. Oh, and it's my job to save the world, right?" Max continued.

The Flock and some of Fang's gang were leaning up against the far wall, ready to answer any questions that Max had. But so far she'd only spoken to Fang and Dylan. She was sitting on one of the beds, her arms folded and regarding the two of them the whole time as if she didn't believe a word of it.

Fang sighed, knowing full well that she thought they were puffing smoke. At this pace it would take a miracle to get her to believe them. "Yeah."

"Save it from…what?"

Angel piped in, then, unable to stay silent for a second more. "We don't know exactly. From the One Light, I guess."

"The One Light?" Max echoed, finally taking interest.

"He's the leader of this group called the Dooms Day Group who wants to blow up the world to save the world." Said Dylan.

She pointed at him, "That last one doesn't even make sense!" Then, turning to Fang, she sighed. "Has somebody called my family? I'd like to talk to my mom."

"But we're your family." A small voice said, but Max refused to look at the girl who had hugged her earlier.

Fang answered. "I explained that to you already. Your mom is missing."

"Okay…and my dad is one of those – what did you call them again?"

"A White Coat. But it's not like you were exactly close to Jeb in the first place. And he's missing too."

"How convenient." She said dryly, and then sighed. "Alright, look; you've gotta be kidding me. How dumb do you think I am?"

"Wh – Max, it's true!" Fang shouted, losing his temper at last.

"Well, I'm gonna need some proof."

Fang sighed, "Fine. Take off your shirt."

Max glared. "Not before the first date, honey."

And she was rewarded by seeing Fang's cheeks flame. "No, that's not what I meant-"

Dylan was not at all comfortable with the topic at hand. He snapped at Fang, "Just show her your wings already."

Max scoffed, lying back on the bed and folding her hands behind her head as if she were about to see a good show. "Sure. Let's see 'em."

Fang shrugged off his jacket, and turned so his back was facing Max. And sure enough – two feathery wings were attached to his back, poking out of the slits of his black T-Shirt.

Max was shocked, though she tried not to show it. For all she knew this could be Hollywood make up affects, just another one of her lies. She sat up and walked up to the angel boy. Tentatively she reached out and ran her fingers over his feathers. Tracing them from the outer layer all the way to where feathers met skin. She felt his shoulders tense as her hands brushed the spot in between his wings but she ignored it. Her eyes couldn't leave the wings. They were so…pretty. Beautiful, really. They were like the midnight sky, so dark they almost seemed purple the way the light hit them. And they didn't feel artificial, didn't look fake…but that meant…

Suddenly she stepped back, drawing back her hand from the silky quills lining his back as if they burned. She swallowed, and ran towards the bathroom, locking the door as she went.

A startled and wild eyes girl stared back at her; snarling brown hair with sandy streaks and brown eyes. Nothing special – she was rather plane looking, in fact. She wondered why that boy, the gorgeous one with blond hair who looked like he should be on TV, stared at her in the way that way he did.

She swallowed again. Gripping the hem of her shirt, she pulled it up to her shoulders and tried to get a good look at her back in the mirror.

A scream echoed through the hotel room, loud enough to be heard down the hall. It took the Flock several moments to realize it belonged to Max – she, who never screamed, not even when she was being beaten to a pulp or scared witless.

Dylan was about to beat down the door, but Max was out of the bathroom before she could. She stood in the doorway, her mind was racing but she couldn't think of a single thing to say. Not with all of them staring at her like that – with trust that she didn't feel she earned, and with pity that she hated.

"Max?" Dylan asked, reaching for her shoulder.

She brushed past him dismissively and grabbed Fang's wrist, pulling him out the door. "You're coming with me"

**X**

"It's just you can't dump all of this on me in one day and expect me to jump on board like it's no big deal. Because having wings is a very big deal! It's a huge deal!" Max was pacing back and forth, her arm crossed behind her back and her eyes narrowed in thought.  
>Fang was watching her, half confused and half amused, lazily sitting comfortably across the stairs of Notre Dame. After she'd dragged him out of the hotel she'd proceeded to take him half way across Paris to a place she foolishly thought the others couldn't find them. Half way to the ancient, towering church Fang had asked her if she'd wanted to fly there and she'd look at him as if he were crazy. Not for the first time today, either. "Max, sit down. Before you burst a brain vessel."<p>

"It's your fault!" Max snapped angrily. "When someone has amnesia you're not supposed to tell them every fricking detail of their life, you're supposed to let them remember on their own!

"Max. Calm down."

With a gigantic sigh, Max threw herself down onto the stairs next to the boy. She still didn't know his name. But introductions could wait until later. "I just don't understand," She said, and Fang almost thought of telling her that she'd never admit that if she were back to her normal self. "Why don't I remember any of this?"

"A few days ago all of us were in a giant fight with the Dooms Day Group. There was an explosion, and you got hurt."

"But I thought I was supposed to save the world or something?"

"You are."

Max scoffed. "Well, I must be pretty useful, then. A crazy, mutated, bird freak who doesn't even know who the hell she is."

Fang smiled a little at her, and Max is heart glowed for some bizarre reason. "You'll figure it out, Max."

"Hmm. I guess that's my name, isn't it? Max." She said tentatively, trying it out.

"You named yourself, you know. We all did." Fang said softly. He felt as exhausted as Max looked.

"Why did I choose Maximum?" She asked, she didn't sound as if she really cared. But he knew Max so well to know that she wouldn't bother to ask a question if she didn't want to know the question.

"Something about you wanting to be the best, the ultimate."

She laughed, her body shaking like the towers of Notre Dame as the bells rang. But this was softer, prettier. _Stop it, Fang._

"And what did you name yourself?"

"Fang."

Max snorted. "What? Why?"

"I was like two years old when I picked it. It sounded cool." Fang shrugged defensively.

Max chuckled. "And who was the first to call me Max?"

"Me. I was."

Max smiled at him. But only a little. But it was enough to feel like before. Before he left, before they were together, before she liked him back, or before he like her in the first place. And way before New York City. It was just like when they were best friends at Jeb's E shaped house.

"You and I were good friends before, weren't we?" Max asked, guessing his thoughts. Max, being well…not really Max, was somehow easier to get along with. Easier to predict when her guard was down. Of course, she probably didn't think having her guard up was necessary. She was more emotional now, but he was adjusting.

A hesitation struck Fang curiously. How could he answer without telling her that they were best friends, more than then just friends, and that Dylan had the hots for her, that he had left to save the world on his own, with his own gang. More importantly, why did he want to keep it a secret in the first place? Everything else was out in the open, so why not this?

"Yeah," Fang answered, guilt curling around his chest like a cage. He ignored it. "We were pretty good friends."

Max nodded. "So. We grew up in that School place, right? And then we escaped with Jeb, but then he turned out to be a bad guy. So, I guess, in a way we're each other's family."

Fang nodded and more questions spewed from Max's mouth. It was the most Nudge-like thing she'd ever done. "What were their names again?"

"Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel."

"What about those others people? The ones that don't have wings, I mean."

"They're names are Ratchet, Holden, Star and Kate. There's another girl, too. You two have tons in common."

"We must be pretty good friends then," Max thought allowed.

"Not exactly."

She was about to ask him what he meant by that when a thought struck her. "Wait, what about that other guy?"

Fang stared at her.

"The tall one, with blonde hair. He was helping explain stuff back at the hotel room."

"Oh. That was Dylan."

Max looked interested and Fang beat back the urge to roll his eyes. "Is he part of our family?"

_Our?_ Fang was about to echo. It was time to come clean. He couldn't explain why there were two groups, two flocks, without telling her the whole story. But when he opened his mouth to speak, very different words came out. "Do you want him to be?"

Max blinked. "I didn't really think about it." She paused. "I guess so. I mean, family is important right? And there's strength in numbers, right?"

"Right."

**X**

**Hello! Well, in my review I noticed that Fang was getting a lot of sympathy and while that is a good thing (it means you're probably not mad at Fang) it wasn't exactly what I was aiming for. Max is pretty much the victim in this story, but if you guys have tips on how to make her seem more sympathetic let me know. Cause that's a pretty hard task for me. Well, REVIEW PLEASE & I'M OPEN TO SUGGESTIONS. **

**P.S. For those of you guys, who read my other story Assignment Marriage, be on the lookout for an upcoming chapter. I promise it will be here soon! But, um…its quarter past one in the morning so I'm gonna post this and then go to sleep. Good night!**


	4. Chapter 4

Max and Fang talked quietly for a few more minutes – about nothing really. Max pried for details about her old life at first. And then, somehow or another, they were making fun of the ridiculous tourists flooding the streets until noticed two guards of the cathedral eyeing him and Max suspiciously.

Whatever. It was getting late, and the others were probably wondering where they were. "We should probably go now," Fang stood.

"Go?" Max frowned. "Go where?"

"Back to the hotel with the others," Fang said, helping her off the steps and blatantly ignoring the frown on her face.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

Fang then took her hand and lead her through the crowd of people. He held onto her hand tightly so they wouldn't get separated, but her fingers were cold and limp in his grip. Max's footsteps sagged and she kept glancing over her shoulder longingly.

Finally she spoke up. "Right now, you mean?"

"Yeah. The others will be wondering where we've been."

"Oh."

There was an undercurrent in her tone. Fang looked over at her. She was frowning, with her eyes downcast at the cobblestone road below her scruffy, black converse. "Are you okay?" He asked her.

He'd never really had to ask her that before. He'd always just known, had always been to tell. Sometimes by her voice and sometimes by her eyes or sometimes he'd just know. But that had been months ago and now there was a distance between them that he was being constantly reminded of.

"Fine."

"No, seriously." He swallowed. "What's wrong?"

Her lips pursed. "S'just…do we have to go back? Can't we just hang out for a while?"

Fang blinked. _Something is seriously wrong with her_, he thought_, if she's asking me for permission._ He stared at her, expecting her to burst out laughing and say this whole fiasco was a prank. But the way she stared at him with those eyes…

_Well crap_. Fang wanted to get back to the hotel. Years of being on the run had it wired into his brain that it was best to stay out of sight. And for years Max had always said, in that stubborn way she had, "Nobody gets to tell me what to do. I do what I like." And it had driven him _crazy._ And now here was a once in a life time opportunity to finally get her to do what she was told. It could come in handy sometime. Might even save her life.

But on the other wing, if Fang did wouldn't that be like…wrong? Like taking advantage of the disabled or something? Without Max being her stubborn self, she wouldn't be her anymore. Not really.

Max stared at Fang hopefully. She was about ready to get down on her knees and bed. He was just rubbing the back of his neck and mumbling. about how he knew he was gonna regret doing this.

Finally, Fang said. "Max, you don't have to do anything you don't want to. Remember that."

Max only smiled a little. "Okay…well then I don't want to go back to the hotel."

"Okay," Fang said agreeably, trying not to be annoyed with himself. "But why not?"

She looked at him incredulously. "Have you _seen_ the way they all look at me?"

"What? No. What d'you mean?"

"The way they look at me, it's weird! You honestly haven't noticed?"

"Can't say I have, how do they look at you?"

"With pity and…I dunno. Trust, I guess."

"What's wrong with that? The trust part, I mean."

Max collapsed onto a bench by the road and Fang joined her. "Because I don't deserve it."

_But you do, Max, _Fang thought.

"And then some of them – the older ones mostly – look at me like I'm a pariah."

It was easy for Fang to guess who she was talking about. Ratchet, Holden, Starr, and Kate. But it surprised him that she had noticed all of this so immediately.

"And then some of them," Her voice was a tiny whisper now, she sounded very, very small. Like when she was little at the School with her cage next to his. "Some of them look at me like I'm their hero."

_Because you are._

_**X**_

"Hold still."

"I am still."

"No, you're not."

"Yes, I am! Max – "

"Fang! He's gonna yell at u – "

"Quit thee moveeng!" The caricature artist scolded and Max giggled finally holding still like the man wanted. His French accent was ridiculously thick and he knew very little American.

Max and Fang were exploring Paris doing touristy, teenager things. Such as: eating at restaurants, sneaking into free samplings at wineries, and checking out the sights. After Max had explained the details of why she wanted to avoid the others she'd declared that she was tired of "talking about all this emotional crap" and had demanded Fang give her a tour of Paris. Now they were waiting, trying not to fidget, as a man with a unibrow and curly-cue mustache drew cartoon pictures of them.

Max paid the man for the drawing when he was done and showed it to Fang. His eyes widened.

The drawing depicted a newly married couple, with the groom carrying his wife bridal style. And that was all fine and good. Accept that Fang's head was on the girl's body.

Max snorted and tried to protect it from Fang. Nevertheless, he snatched it up and tore it in half twice.

"Hey! That cost me, like, a bunch of Euros!"

"You don't even know how much you paid for it?"

"Does it matter?" Max examined the crumpled and torn paper. "It's gone now."

Seeing his masterpiece in ruins, the caricature artist strum out a chorus of swears at them. Max would have responded with a few choice words of her own, but he'd said them in French so she didn't have a clue how to respond.

Instead she stuffed her hands in her pocket nonchalantly. "So what next?"

Fang glanced at the sun once. It was already going down. Fang was spent but he could tell Max had no intention of going back to the others.

Max was glancing around at the scenery of the street they were on. She and Fang had strolled into a less-touristy part of Paris. A park was centered in a round-about, and surrounding them were crowded, rustic two-story buildings that made room only for the roads and the sidewalks. Overhead lights were strong from one balcony to the next. There wasn't much around them: a teensy little restaurant with black wired table and chairs sitting out front, but other than that Max suspected the buildings were mostly apartments.

"I have no idea, I'm beat." Fang sat down on a park bench directly across the street from that restaurant.

"Oh." Max looked around her as if just realizing something. "It _is_ getting late."

Fang sat up a little bit, praying it was time to get back. _Obviously_ he enjoyed hanging out with Max. He hadn't gotten to do that with it being just the two of us long before he left the flock. And he'd been very surprised – and _very_ satisfied – when Max had brushed past Dylan and grabbed Fang to explain things to her. But it had been a long day, and he wanted to go home.

"I guess we should go."

The corner of Fang's jaw twitched up in relief, although Max didn't even notice. Not like the old Max would have.

**X**

It took a little longer than expected to get back to the hotel, much to Fang's displeasure. Evidently they'd walked ten miles away from where they originated, and while they could have gotten back to the hotel in a flash if they'd flown, Max was under some bizarre impression that she was afraid of heights. _What has this world come to?_

So, after getting lost about fifteen times, he and Max were sneaking into the hotel room at nearly one in the morning. "_Shh,_" Fang whispered to Max after swiping the key card to the hotel room and slowly creaking open the door, "Be quiet. We don't want to wake anybody up."

"_Where have you been?"_ Somebody hissed as soon as the two teenagers walked in. The light switch flicked on, blinding them, and Max's heart almost stopped dead at being caught.

It was one of those mutants, one of the older ones, with reddish-blondish hair. He was glaring in Max and Fang's general direction since he couldn't see. Out of the corner of Fang's eyes, he could see that Max was tugging at the corner of her hat self-consciously, looking guilty. She'd bought it while they were out, to cover the bandages that wrapped around her head and matted down her hair.

Fang didn't answer the boy, and Max was still trying to remember his name – Gibby? Piggy? Something like that.

The blind one continued, his face pinched up red in anger. "It's past _midnight_. You should have had her home _hours ago."_

Fang blinked as what Iggy was telling him registered in his mind. He was… _mad_ at Fang? What?

Max, also confused, was frowning. Fang didn't say anything about her having a curfew! And why did she need one, anyway? Supposedly, she was the great, invincible Maximum Ride – she didn't need a babysitter!

She glanced around the empty hotel room, wondering where the others were. It was just her, Fang, and the blind one. Max jumped a little, realizing there was a fourth person, too. The model looking boy, who was watching Max carefully with a very odd expression on his face.

Fang seemed to have spotted the model boy, too. Fang's shoulders were tensed and he cracked his knuckles menacingly. Dylan was the final straw - he'd just about had it today. This whole day had been freaking crazy. And all Fang wanted was to take a break from the crazy and to take a well-deserved nap. But _nooooooooooooooo_. It could never be that easy, could it?

"Fang?" Max asked, "What's going on? Why are they mad?"

Honestly Fang didn't know. Although he suspected it has something to do with what Iggy had said earlier – about how cozying up to Max was a bad plan that would bite them all in the ass. Whatever. Fang clenched his fists.

What was Iggy's _deal?_ He and Iggy used to be on the same team! He'd been the first to know how he felt about Max – although he suspected Angel might have crept into his mind and found out. But since when did Iggy act like an over-protective brother ready to load his shot gun?!

"Iggy, what the hell are you talking about?"

"Look, I know everyone agreed that you're the best hope off helping Max out. But like I said: I don't think it's a good idea and Dylan agrees."

Fang scoffed. "Obviously, boy-wonder agrees!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Dylan demanded.

"Well it's not like you have an ulterior motive for _that!_ I'm _sure_ you don't want me around Max for her own good, not because you're trying to get with her or anything! I'm _so sure_ it's not because you're trying to take advantage of Max's disability or anything!"

Max was – confused. And angry. How dare they talk about her like she wasn't even in the room! How dare Fang call what happened to her a disability! She was just as capable as the rest of them – if not, more. But what the hell was Fang _talking_ about? Dylan was trying to get with her? What did that even mean?!

Iggy brushed this off before a fight could ensue. "Whatever! The point is I don't trust you around Max anymore. You're not aloud around her unless you absolutely need to be."

Max couldn't believe this – who was this guy, this dude she didn't even know, and where did he get the balls to tell her who she was and wasn't allowed to see!

Fang, who evidently was thinking the same thing, was seething. Again, it looked like a fight would break out. But Max couldn't stay quiet any longer, as a storm of questions strung past her lips, "_Excuse me?_ But who the hell are you to tell me who I am and am not allowed to see? How dare you all talk about me like I'm not even in the damn room!"

Iggy closed his eyes, trying not to lose it in front of Max. _Don't get mad at her,_ he thought. _She doesn't know what's going on. _Then he said_,_ "Dylan, take Max to her room with the others."

Dylan pushed himself off the wall and said to Max, "Don't worry, everything's fine. I'll take you to the others and you can go to sleep, okay? You must be tired; you've been gone for ours. The flock was so worried about you. Nudge thought that we lost you again."

Dylan took her arm and started to lead her from the room but she snatched it back. She was glaring at Iggy. "Nobody gets to tell me what to do. I do what I like."

Everyone froze, staring at Max. Her shoulders were tense and her eyes were narrowed. But they had that old light in them and it was impossible to mistake. Max was back.

At least for a second, anyways. After she said those words – words she'd said for years to anyone who tried to get her to do something she didn't want to - she blinked and reached up to touch her head as if it was aching.

"Ouch," She said faintly, sounding surprised but looking confused. She swayed slightly before dropping to the floor out cold.

**YIKES! That was SUCH a bad ending, but I was too tired to type more. Okay, plleeeeeeaaaaaassse review, guys! And I'll update mega soon! If you're a fan of my other story, I'll update soon for that too! I've got the storyline kind of planned out but if you have an idea for me REVIEW and I'll try and work it in, okay? Also! To avoid confusion, when I said "Max was back" in the story, she's not like **_**back **_**back. She's was like back for two seconds, and then she wasn't back and she passed out because her brain hurt because she couldn't process what was happening. She'll probably have **_**SOME**_** of her memories back in the next few chapters. NOW DO ME A BIG OL' FAVOR AND REVIEW SO I KNOW IF YOU WANT ME TO CONTINUE!**


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